Pretty common situation when one player - for whatever reason shows just 1 other player his cards before mucking them. So the "show one show all " rules allows all other players to get see the mucked hand.

1. Does this rule apply anywhere in the hand - even if there are 2 or more players still active? IOW, on the turn with 2 other players still active even though you would then be exposing cards in an active hand?

2. Does the dealer actually need to see the act occur - i.e.seeing the one player showing his hand to another?

1. In theory, the dealer should put the cards aside, and then show them to the other players after the hand is over.

2. If a player or players insist that the showing of the hand occurred, in theory the dealer does not need to see it for the cards to be shown to the other players.

I want to use the occasion of this thread to ask my own question. Is it considered bad etiquette to invoke show one, show all when a player mucks at showdown after showing his neighbor?

I did this at the table a couple of weeks ago when a player had been doing it consistently. I understand that it is bad etiquette to invoke IWTSTH when a player just mucks at show down, but I didn't think it was inappropriate to invoke "show one show all." But I was admonished for it by a regular. I think he was wrong, and maybe confusing the situations, but wanted to know the forum's thoughts.

Its bad etiquette for those regulars to show each other their cards before mucking. After they do it a few times, I have no qualms about invoking SOSA.

If say 3 people see the flop, you're in seat 7, a player in seat 8, and me in seat 3. I bet, you think, show your cards to seat 8 and then muck...I can ask to see those cards even though the hand is still live because it gives seat 8 an advantage over me in theory. If you show them to seat 6 I can ask the dealer to put them aside and show later.

The dealer usually needs to see it or have enough people at the table see it, else it would be OH HE SHOWED.

Just say, "Show one, show all" in a slightly chiding tone of voice as if you are disappointed with a 5 year old. I've done this hundreds of times without 1 complaint.

If villains are superfish, though, not worth it to stir up the animosity if it's NL. Limit OK IMO

First of all, you must recognize when showing cards in this manner is fairly innocuous and when it is very harmful.

So let's start with harmful. Button raises. SB shows BB his cards and folds, BB calls. Now here, button has a legitimate concern that BB knows 2 cards that are out of play that he doesn't know. And he has every right to ask for those cards to be shown right away. So basically, if a player is involved in a hand and knows cards that are mucked that nobody else knows, he has an unfair advantage that must be rectified right away.

The less harmful version of this is showing what you folded to somebody who has already folded. In these cases, there is no harm to any player in the hand with live cards. The problem with calling the rule against these players is that they can simply get annoyed with you and just tell their friends in their ear what they had. You can't prevent that.

As far as somebody showing his neighbor his hand say at showdown before he folds is this. If it's somebody showing somebody else on a regular basis, especially if you know they are strangers, then that receiving player is getting constant stream of information that nobody else is getting. I might just point that out. Also, say you are at opposite ends of the table heads up. You bet, he folds and shows the whole end of his table his hand. In this case, I might also speak up.

That's my general take. There are other specific circumstances but I find them pretty rare. And really, if it's a new player who simply needs to show someone every time he folds, he can be informed of the rule and the harm it may cause. That's just part of live table education.

i usually just ask the person that showed or was shown what he had. if they dont respond or seem to tell me a lie, next time i ask for the cards to be shown to the table.

if i even think that a person in the hand with me might have seen the cards i call the floor and demand that they be turned up to make it fair.